Thursday, December 15, 2016

Diocese of East Anglia plans to open eight new Catholic free schools

The Diocese of East Anglia will be one of the first dioceses to take
advantage of the Government’s decision to remove the 50 per cent
admissions cap on free schools.

In a statement released today,
the diocese announced that up to eight new primary and secondary
schools are in the pipeline to counter the shortage of school spaces for
Catholic pupils in East Anglia.

The Government announced the proposal in September, which was
followed by a consultation which ended yesterday. If the admissions cap
is lifted following the consultation, the diocese will be at liberty to
act straight away and open their proposed schools.

The areas of East Anglia where the new schools are being proposed are
parts of the diocese where there is a great need due to demographic
changes that have taken place in the region in the past decade.

In Cambridgeshire, the diocese plans to set up a primary school in
the West Cambourne area and Cherry Hinton village, which is on the
outskirts of Cambridge. The diocese also hopes to establish a new
Catholic primary school in Peterborough.

Another primary school is envisaged in the market town of Thetford,
while two primary schools and a sixth form have been proposed for
Norwich.

The Sacred Heart Convent School in Swaffham is also considering plans for a new free school.

Director of the Catholic Education Service, Paul Barber, said: “This
is fantastic news from the Diocese of East Anglia and we warmly welcome
their announcement. Up and down the country we are seeing pockets of
high demand for Catholic education and if the cap is lifted we will be
able to answer that call. Catholic schools are the most ethnically
diverse in the country and consistently outperform the national average
when it comes to KS2 and KS4 results. We are excited at this opportunity
to give more children an outstanding Catholic education.”

Assistant director for the Schools Commission for the Diocese of East
Anglia, Helen Bates, said the diocese is “really looking forward to
opening new schools which are desperately needed to meet the demand we
already have here in East Anglia.”

“For the Catholic Church, the cap has meant it has been unable to
open any new Catholic schools in case it results in Catholic children
being turned away from a Catholic school. In East Anglia we have some of
the most severe shortages of places, which is why we want to bid for so
many new schools,” she added.

Brian Conway, chief executive officer of the St John the Baptist
Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, which currently covers six primaries and a
high school in Norfolk and north Suffolk, said “the possibility of new
Catholic schools is hugely exciting”.

“Catholic schools have a long history of providing a successful
education to widely diverse pupil populations. For example, our current
primary school in Norwich, St Francis of Assisi, has more than 40% of
its pupils whose first language is not English,” he said.

“We also have a real need for Catholic primary school places in north
Norwich and this is growing as large housing developments in places
like Sprowston and Rackheath are planned. A school in north Norwich
could serve a Catholic need from this housing as well as an existing
need across north Norfolk where there are no Catholic schools.”